G500 to G500txi, Compelling Upgrade?

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Kynadog

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Kynadog
Is there any compelling reason to upgrade from a G500 to a G500txi? I understand the larger screen, refresh rate and touch features, but I have also heard from at least one person who has flown extensively with both, that they favor the user interface of the G500.

I would be interested to hear from others with experience flying both, if there is a compelling reason to upgrade.

Thanks in advance.
 
Haven't flown with either of those yet, but having flown with both G1000 and G1000 NXi, while there isn't one compelling feature that makes the $$$ upgrade worthwhile, all of the little things they upgraded make the entire user experience far better and I much prefer the NXi.

Examples:
* Processor is faster so things appear on screen much faster
* Screen is much higher resolution - Much easier on the eyes, and allows a Chart page (sectional) in addition to the plain map page.
* Text is no longer all caps so it's much easier to read.
* Audio panel has bluetooth and the auto-squelch actually works well (I know this doesn't apply in your case, I'm just throwing out examples)
* "TargetTrend" on the Traffic page is way more useful than it sounds.

There's just a ton of little stuff that really adds up. I know change is hard, but if I had a G500 I'd be upgrading if for no other reason than the faster CPU and nicer screen. And because of that CPU, you'll be seeing more compelling features appearing in the software going forward, whereas the non-TXi G500 is almost certainly in its final state as far as software is concerned.
 
I had a G500 that I upgraded to a TXi. Night and day different. Way better screen, no annoying bezel in the middle, very fast and responsive. Personally I find the touch interface very fast to navigate as opposed to pressing physical buttons and knobs, though you can do a lot on the TXi via the knobs if you want. The GDU1080 is physically larger than the GDU620 from the G500, it was a very tight fit in my T210. But there is a lot more screen real estate (and like I said, no bezel separating PFD from MFD, which also increases effective screen area and allows for dynamic reconfiguring). I also love the HSI map of the TXI. No regrets on that change at all.
 
Ryan Klems said:
I had a G500 that I upgraded to a TXi. Night and day different. Way better screen, no annoying bezel in the middle, very fast and responsive. Personally I find the touch interface very fast to navigate as opposed to pressing physical buttons and knobs, though you can do a lot on the TXi via the knobs if you want. The GDU1080 is physically larger than the GDU620 from the G500, it was a very tight fit in my T210. But there is a lot more screen real estate (and like I said, no bezel separating PFD from MFD, which also increases effective screen area and allows for dynamic reconfiguring). I also love the HSI map of the TXI. No regrets on that change at all.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of one niggling annoyance with the G1000 NXi. You can have either the HSI Map *or* the lower-left inset map. NOT both.

Good point about reconfigurability on the G500 TXi too. I was thinking I'd probably get to the point where I was on the approach and the MFD portion wouldn't be as useful any more once I know there isn't any weather or traffic between me and the airport... Tap it into full-screen PFD mode to get an extra large AI depiction! A very nice improvement indeed.
 
Ryan Klems said:
I had a G500 that I upgraded to a TXi. Night and day different. Way better screen, no annoying bezel in the middle, very fast and responsive. Personally I find the touch interface very fast to navigate as opposed to pressing physical buttons and knobs, though you can do a lot on the TXi via the knobs if you want. The GDU1080 is physically larger than the GDU620 from the G500, it was a very tight fit in my T210. But there is a lot more screen real estate (and like I said, no bezel separating PFD from MFD, which also increases effective screen area and allows for dynamic reconfiguring). I also love the HSI map of the TXI. No regrets on that change at all.
Click to expand...

If you have the G500 txi, why did you also get the 650 and 750 txi upgrade (from your post in the other thread)? Don't you run everything that the 650 and 750 does through your G500 panels?
 
Yes, the GTNs info are displayed on the TXi, but of course navigation stuff, freq changes, etc must be done on the GTNs. The 650 I don't touch much and usually leave it as a dedicated traffic page. The 750 I usually have it zoomed out much father than the TXi with as much weather on it I can display (nexrad loop playing, stormscope, etc) and the TXi I usually have much closer range and a lot more navigation data up. I use them all as extra screens. The non-Xi when displaying lots of overlays would get quite laggy and take a while to draw if I panned around, whereas the Xi just pans smoothly around instantly drawing all the wx.

IMG_1826.jpeg
 
Odd. I thought a glass panel like the g500 could control the nav systems and coms. I know that’s a feature if the g3x


BTW. Ye gads - you have a more advanced cockpit than most airliners!
 
Ryan Klems said:
I had a G500 that I upgraded to a TXi. Night and day different. Way better screen, no annoying bezel in the middle, very fast and responsive. Personally I find the touch interface very fast to navigate as opposed to pressing physical buttons and knobs, though you can do a lot on the TXi via the knobs if you want. The GDU1080 is physically larger than the GDU620 from the G500, it was a very tight fit in my T210. But there is a lot more screen real estate (and like I said, no bezel separating PFD from MFD, which also increases effective screen area and allows for dynamic reconfiguring). I also love the HSI map of the TXI. No regrets on that change at all.
Click to expand...

I have a dual Aspen setup, and that's one thing I'm jealous of with the G3X displays--no bezel between the screens.
 
WDD said:
Odd. I thought a glass panel like the g500 could control the nav systems and coms. I know that’s a feature if the g3x


BTW. Ye gads - you have a more advanced cockpit than most airliners!
Click to expand...

G3X can control radios, audio panel and transponder (assuming something that the G3X can control), and can use its internal navigator for VFR operations, but not IFR (also can't feed 3rd party AP from the internal navigator), but when using the external navigator it can only display the flight plan, you can't edit it on the G3X. G500/TXi doesn't have any of that. Might be nice to have the COM and Audio Panel control.
 
rbridges said:
I have a dual Aspen setup, and that's one thing I'm jealous of with the G3X displays--no bezel between the screens.
Click to expand...

That was definitely one of the initial primary reasons I wanted to do the G500 -> TXi upgrade! (and one of the reasons I'm not really a fan of the Aspens in general ... way too much bezel with the 2 or 3 screen setup).
 
Ryan Klems said:
That was definitely one of the initial primary reasons I wanted to do the G500 -> TXi upgrade! (and one of the reasons I'm not really a fan of the Aspens in general ... way too much bezel with the 2 or 3 screen setup).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree about the bezels. I didn't think I was stepping into glass, but I did one panel, and then I wanted to redundancy. You know how it goes. The Aspen allowed me to do it in smaller bites.
 
Has anyone done this 500 -> 500txi and is able to post a ballpark price to expect for the avionics/labor/timeline? Sorry to bump an older thread.
 
Sarasota Avionics has upgrade pricing on their website.
 
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